A Certain MoeMoe Railgun S – Ep.5

Episode 5 is already here, though it feels like I just watched 4 (because I did, oops).  Aside how fast the episodes feel like they are coming out, these things go amazingly fast, faster than any other show I’ve really watched. Every single one feels like it’s over right after it starts, and this one was even quicker than how the last four felt.

This episode introduced us to a new moe, well, more like a rehash of the best moe;

As much as I don’t care for sisters because of the things they use Biribiri’s body for (letting Touma grope them, showing off their panties, etc) and the way Kamachi and the animation staff for Index abused that aspect for fanservice pandering to pieces of shit and no other reason, I do like them overall. They can be extremely cute, and this was shown well this episode – both aspects, given we get a panty shot but then we get so much actual development of the sister. Not nearly as moe, not even a tenth of it, as the real deal – but cute nonetheless. It was really fun watching these two together. It was adorable watching Mikoto get all caught up in the pace of the sister, and showing what a kid she is at times; this is probably how she’d be with a real sibling too, so that was kind of nice to see – yet another side of her. Not only that – but they really make you get attached to this sister very well in such a short period of time which was nicely done and really helped the latter portion of the episode succeed at what it was doing.

I’d say the best thing though was all the facial expressions (of the original and the clones) and the ‘kukuku’s, I also really liked the ice cream truck scene which was in the manga too. Actually, speaking of the manga, this episode was pretty much 1:1 to the manga. There was literally no tv-only material nor anything missing, from stupid shit like the ice cream flavors to shit like a certain leg and train. JC Staff showed their incredible talent yet again – and this time nobody can claim otherwise for once because it did a perfect 100% accurate manga adaptation of these scenes. Even the huge haters (retards who jump on a bandwagon knowing nothing – given JC Staff is one of the most historically proven best studios in the industry) can’t bitch about them “fucking this up” this time.

Something else really awesomely done in this episode was the change of feeling and atmosphere throughout. We start off on a high fun note, we get halfway through with that winding down but still nothing necessarily dark, and then we get thrown into an abyss. The progression was handled very well and it gave me that feeling you have when you know something is fucked. Not like goosebumps, but more like when the hair on the back of your neck stands up but you feel that same way through your whole body. It was so immersive and really manipulated the viewers emotions and when you get tossed into the dark stuff you feel it hit just like Biribiri does.

I’m gonna just say it – I don’t like Accelerator. Never have. He’s an extremely generic shounen protagonist; “i’m so bad and evil” “look at me doing bad and evil things while laughing and smiling teehee im just so bad and crazy and evil see?????” – he shoves the idea of him being the bad guy in your face harder than Touma shoves his fist into women’s jaws. It’s obnoxious and piss poor writing on Kamachi’s part in the original light novel that he’s introduced in. The character is just beyond “generic” and is downright pathetically stupid. HOWEVER, I have heard from people who watched Index that he does actually end up being developed and turned into a worthwhile character. I’m going to assume this is true and put aside my hate for him (well, not the hate for what he does to the sisters!) aside and judge him based on how he is throughout the show. What I mean is, I just said I hate him – but I’m going to let him start with a clean slate and purposefully ignore the generic bullshit for now.

I have a question for anyone who might know: Why is it the scientists only used DNA from Biribiri? How come we don’t have Melt Downer clones? Accelerator clones? Any of the others? Why Mikoto out of all of them? Why not ALL of them or one of the others? Why was she picked? I don’t recall this ever being discussed in the manga. They had blood on all of them; I know because basic fucking logic. There’s no way the researchers couldn’t easily have gotten it from them – but she’s the one they used instead, and ONLY her. Why?

You know, I’ve been talking about how much more like a film or film series this season is rather than a TV series – and this episode just pushed that up even further. I felt like I was right in that good part of a film about 40~60 minutes in, not near the climax at all but at the point where shit gets real – and it felt very natural about it like it wasn’t it’s own episode but just more of the movie and I never even took a break or anything. It’s pretty incredibly well done.

I mean, I’ve watched a good amount of anime in my time up to now and this is the first TV anime series I’ve ever seen do this. The production values, art, animation, all star voice cast, script and pacing – it’s all fucking outstanding – BUT other shows manage that too. What’s really special here, the thing I’ve never really seen in anything else I’ve watched, is the way it’s being directed and, again, the cinematography and lighting.

Directing kind of lumps a lot together from scene composure to things like line delivery and so on, and every single aspect of it is not only reminiscent of top quality huge budget films, it’s just fucking amazingly well done overall – not ‘for an anime’ but in general. I know I’m a Railgun fanboy, but even from the most ‘objective’ point of view you can get about something in entertainment, this series is doing some fucking amazing things, and doing almost everything way better than almost anything of a comparable length in the medium. Like I keep mentioning in all these posts – I am very genuinely just blown away by how incredibly well done this show is in every single aspect, and how perfectly they all combine and flow, giving every single episode a feeling of being a full length film all on it’s own even though they fly by so fast because of how well they pull you in.

The actual way the episode ended also lends to that and was done great this episode. I expected the ED to pop up but I got a very foreboding instrumental track playing over a black screen with white credits scrolling by after a TO BE CONTINUED shot – like the end of a movie that already has a planned sequel.

It’s really saying a lot, but I feel like this series has (even in just the 5 episodes aired so far) genuinely done something no other full length shows, or most anime in general, have ever done. JC Staff has a lot of classics, industry changing, and genre-defining shows under their belt. I feel like this might be the first two. I really believe it is. I’ll save expanding on that in detail until a full review and seeing if it maintains that throughout, but even putting my love of Mikoto and of Railgun in general entirely aside, this series is going above and beyond anything else you’ll find – old or new in so many aspects and in making those aspects work together. I just hope this style of directing, animating, and so on catches on with the industry, because holy shit it’s incredible.

Welp, until next week – be power smart and conserve electricity ~biribiri!